Solved Assistance on Laptop required

[Plexx]

Hi guys, I need some help here as I am unsure if a simple rescue disk would do the trick since it seems she is unable to even load up the Bios. I will quote what my friend said:

Sony Vaio, OS: Windows Vista, froze all of a sudden and I pressed shut down. Wanted to turn it on again, the screen went black for like 5 min and this error message came up. No matter what I press: Enter or Esc, it restarts and shows the same things all over again.
Tried F5, F8 and F12, nothing works, can't restore, can't enter safe mode, Bios, anything.

 

[Deleted member 178]

I was recommending something very easy.

I don't say the opposite.

 

[Plexx]

Confirmed, he is going to set up the windows 7 backup utility and create the bootable disk etc in case an issue happens in the future. He is also going to install Panda Cloud as there was an outdated AV installed.

He did detect 2 infected files on the stuff copied but has cleaned it.

Win 7 is being installed as I type this.

Thanks everyone for the help!

 

[Dieselman]

Would be nice to try and find out what happened. Like did she use any sort of registry cleaner or system utility? What was the last thing she did prior to this happening? Does she have an external HDD?

 

[Plexx]

I asked before she said was only surfing the net, then turned off, then today turned on and while loading applications after login, it froze. So she did a force restart and that is what happened.

 

[Dieselman]

The force restart most likely caused it. Improperly shutting down Windows often causes system failures. More so on XP. But the freezing issue could have been malware related.

 

[Plexx]

Possibly Malware related issue for a start but no way to fully know now since the Boot sequence was messed up etc. Windows 7 now installed and activated. Just the bits and pieces to be installed, back up copied and finally create a boot disk.

Sure took some time.

At least that laptop is now running Windows 7 and not Vista...

 

[Ink]

I advise installing all Windows Updates (ie. SP1) before installing any security software(s).

Is that Panda Cloud AV with the URL Filter for realtime protection?

Also what other measures will be taken? (ie Standard user account or alternate web browser such as Chrome).

 

[WinAndLinuxTutorials]

After the installation of the OS completes and everything gets ready, I think you can start a thread in security configuration forum.

 

[Plexx]

Well I am still thinking on the final configuration for that user.

Shall I name it as My friend's configuration?

And yes, all Updates are being downloaded and installed accordingly.

As there were 2 infections at least on the files to backup I said I would provide her the tools etc...

Panda Cloud and URL filter: I had in mind for a start.

It will take me a bit to get the config in place since although that is a Vaio laptop, it came with Vista and well 3GB Ram only. HDD is only 250 and processor ain't particularly fast either.

NOTE: I will have to use TeamViewer to fully set up the config so it might take some time...